It just got tougher to imagine Matt Niskanen starting the season with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Pittsburgh on Wednesday announced a two-year contract with 24-year-old defenseman Robert Bortuzzo worth $600,000 annually. As noted by Josh Yohe of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the team likes Bortuzzo, and nobody should be surprised if he starts the 2013-14 as the No. 6 defenseman.

So, do the math—Kris Letang, Rob Scuderi, Paul Martin and Brooks Orpik are mortal locks to make up the top two pairings. The team has said that Simon Despres, a former first-round pick who was fine as a rookie last season, will be bigger part of the plans. That leaves two spots for Niskanen, Bortuzzo and Deryk Engelland.

Niskanen, 26, is the best of the three. He also is entering the last season of a contract with a $2.3 million cap hit, and the team is currently more than $1 million over the $64.3 million limit. The easiest, most obvious and most sensible thing to is trade him.

Since arriving as the afterthought portion of the trade that sent Alex Goligoski to Dallas and landed Pittsburgh James Neal, Niskanen has rebuilt his value as, at least, a third-pairing defenseman on a good team. He drives possession at even strength, is capable of adequately running a power play and, for at least another season, is signed to a reasonable contract. Someone should want him.

Bortuzzo, meanwhile, has shown signs of being a solid depth defenseman, particularly in his own end, and he's 6-4, 215 pounds. Just as importantly, he's cheap and signed to a short-term deal, which is relevant considering that top prospects like Olli Maatta, Derick Pouliot, Scott Harrington and Brian Dumoulin all figure to be capable of contributing at some point relatively soon.

Bortuzzo is the 18th of 21 arbitration-eligible players to sign a deal before the hearings are scheduled. The guys left: winger Mats Zuccarello of the New York Rangers, defenseman Mark Fraser of the Toronto Maple Leafs and defenseman Zach Bogosian and forward Blake Wheeler of the Winnipeg Jets.